Swaziland’s ruling elite is trying to defend the banning of political parties.
The Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, ran a very long interview yesterday (4 October 2008) with what it called a ‘senior prince’ in which readers were told that political parties were unnecessary in Swaziland because ‘Swazis were one single family with the King as the head and father’.
The article (which comes at a time when both the African Union and the Pan-African Parliament have called for parties to be un-banned in Swaziland) featured the views of Manzini Regional Administrator Prince Masitsela. The Observer described Masitsela as a ‘senior’ prince. It is necessary to make the distinction because in Swaziland the Royal Family is extensive and there needs to be some kind of pecking order to distinguish one member from another. I often ask Swazis to tell me how many princes and princesses there are in Swaziland and none can. Who can be surprised when the present king has at least 13 wives and his father King Sobhuza II is said to have had at least 200? That makes for a lot of children.
Masitsela’s interview was riddled with half truths and down-right lies. I don’t have time to unpick them one by one but here’s a start.
Political parties had been tried in the past (immediately after independence was gained from Britain in 1968) but they were imposed on Swaziland because the British ‘wanted to leave the country in pieces and not peace’. This simply isn’t true. During the negotiations that took place between Swaziland and Britain prior to independence Swazis themselves wanted political parties. For example, the Ngwane National Liberation Congress (NNLC) party was excluded from the independence talks by King Sobhuza II but NNLC members made their own way to London to lobby for parties at the negotiations.
Masitsela also claimed that when the British left Swaziland ‘they left a virgin territory which was hardly developed’. Nothing is further from the truth. The Swaziland economy was one of the strongest in the region. I have dealt with this point before and if you want to read what I wrote last time click here.
The truth is that political parties were allowed after 1968 and they were only banned after the voters of Swaziland elected MPs that were not part of the King’s own political party. King Sobhuza had such contempt for his own people’s decisions that he made the Royal Proclamation of 1973 and banned parliament and political parties. He only allowed parliament to resume after intense pressure from within Swaziland and the international community.
Incidentally, what proof is there that modern day Swazis don’t want political parties?
We are constantly told that Swazis don’t want political parties as if this was a fact. I suggest we test it. Let’s allow political parties to form and if Swazis don’t want them they won’t join them and they won’t vote for them at elections. If this happened the political parties would die on the vine.
I believe this won’t happen. Political parties will be welcomed because they will give people the opportunity to discuss what is going on in Swaziland and offer alternatives to the people who have led Swaziland since 1968. And this is precisely why Swaziland’s ruling elite doesn’t want them.
Given a choice do you think people would prefer democracy or what prevails in Swaziland? Can anyone seriously say that people in democratic countries in Europe, North America, Australia, Africa and so on would want to see their parties banned and instead have them replaced by a political system headed by an autocratic king as is the case in Swaziland?
In his interview Masitsela said that post independence Swaziland had to make its own way in the world. ‘This means that all that we have today is a result of our own blood, sweat and tears, which makes it all the more precious in our eyes,’ he said.
What Masitsela doesn’t do is describe what Swaziland is like today. Here is a snapshot: it has the highest rate of HIV AIDS in the world; life expectancy is just over 30 years; seven in ten people live in abject poverty earning less than one US dollar a day; more than six in ten people received overseas food aid in the past year and four in ten are reported to be moving from hunger to starvation; King Mswati III has a wealth of 200 million US dollars (about E1.4 million). I would suggest that all of this is the fault of the leaders of Swaziland. I am glad that Prince Masitsela recognises that no one else can take the credit.
Before I end let’s look again at the food aid business. Without this food the majority of people in Swaziland would be starving. It is as simple as that. Where does Masitsela think the food aid comes from? The answer is simple. It comes from democratic countries that are run by political parties. History tells us that no country that is a democracy has ever suffered starvation.
Without the help of democratic countries Swaziland would be ravaged by starvation.
Perhaps Masitsela might concede that political parties can do some good.
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